East St. John's Darion Monroe said he was impressed with Tulane coaching staff

Darion Monroe said he didn't like the visit to Texas A&M is why he switched to Tulane.

Darion Monroe knew it Sunday night, but didn’t really make it official until Monday night. Texas A&M was out and Tulane was in.

The East St. John quarterback/defensive back had been a Texas A&M commitment since the summer, but after a weekend visit with the Green Wave’s new head coach and former Saints assistant, Curtis Johnson, he switched to Tulane.

“It happened so quickly. I went on my visit last Friday and Sunday I was like … I’m going there,” Monroe said. “My mom always said ‘You’re not staying in Louisiana, you’re going out-of-state.’ But when she had a chance to meet (Curtis Johnson) she was like ‘Man, I love those guys. I approve of it if you want to go there.’ So I made the switch.”

Monroe, who is on The Times-Picayune’s Blue Chip list as well a 4-star defensive back on Rivals.com, was pleased with the coaching staff at Tulane, but primarily it wasn’t so much about football as it was academics.

“The education? Top 10. I’ll probably be the first person in my family to come out with a degree,” he said. “They wouldn’t have the money for me to go to college. This is just a blessing.”

And throw in the fact, his last experience at Texas A&M didn’t go so well with new coach Kevin Sumlin. The main reason behind that was the fact that A&M still doesn’t have a defensive backs coach.

“There were some things I didn’t feel comfortable about, my whole visit wasn’t that good,” Monroe said. “My mom and I went there, we sat at the table, coaches came by, but we felt like we were by ourselves.”

In fact, Monroe said, when it came to making a decision, Texas A&M wasn’t in the picture.

“In the end, it came down to Tulane and Arizona State,” he said.

Also, making a switch at East St. John was defensive end Gerron Borne. He was an Arizona commitment until he switched on Monday night to New Mexico and new coach Bob Davie, who ironically was a Texas A&M assistant 20 years ago.

“When I went out there I went out there with an open mind,” Borne said. “I went out there and I fell in love with it, I fell in love with the coaching staff. I feel I can trust them, that’s the main thing.”